Is Financial Advice from Blog Any Good?

By :- Kate, On March 5, 2013 in ::-Uncategorized

In today’s world, any information that you are looking for is at your fingertips. The money world is not an exemption, so that it is very likely that you have seen a myriad of blogs offering financial advice. However, you must be aware that not everybody who writes on finance and economy are necessarily experts on such topics. Although good bloggers usually write on topics within their expertise area, some others may do good research to provide their readers with reliable information, but there might be bloggers that simply are looking to monetize from the topic’s keywords regardless if the content is accurate or not.

Keep in mind that blogs written by experts in the field can be incredibly helpful and, best of all, free of cost! The accessibility and convenience with which you can access such information are perhaps the most significant advantages. This is particularly true when seeking financial advice, as it can lead to substantial savings and the identification of potentially lucrative investment opportunities. For instance, by referring to blogs like Deferred.com or similar resources, individuals interested in investing in like-kind real estate after selling their current property can defer their capital gains taxes.

That being said, it is crucial to ensure that the blog being referred to is authentic and offers sound financial advice. Otherwise, it may result in a financial loss rather than a gain- and who would want to lose their money? Below are a few helpful tips to keep in mind while looking for a blog that you can use as a reliable reference.

Determining a Blogger’s Expertise

If you are looking for financial advice, chances are that you run a query to find it with the aid of your favorite search engine. Yes, your query may return dozens of pages listing finance blogs and naturally, websites set up by banks and many other financial institutions, besides those of agents and brokers wanting to sell their services. With this plethora of possibilities, it is necessary that you develop an analytic eye to determine the expertise of bloggers and evaluate their authority on finance topics.

Read and Compare Before Taking Any Advice

As noted above, many blogs are set with the sole purpose to make money, in the knowledge that “financial advice” is among the most popular keyboards that people type in search engines to find it. Many that only look to make money from advertising displayed on-site usually have poor quality finance articles and many times the content is incomprehensible to human eyes because it is designed for search engines, offering the repetitiveness of a series of keywords, which will soon let you see that such blogs are not any good.

Other website owners might be knowledgeable in finances, but they prefer to use that knowledge to promote financial services that pay for their services. In this case, you can take their advice with reserve and make a decision based on your own conclusions after reading several of the solutions they offer.

Finally, there are blogs that are run by professional finance experts that are glad to share with you their experience and the latest news in the financial world. These blogs are truly the most valuable of all, as the information they provide is not seeking to sell you something, not to get you clicking on banners or sponsored links.

Financial Advice From Blogs Are Good!

Yes, it is but only when your common sense and the careful analysis of the posts reveal to you that you are truly receiving advice from a finance professional. The information could also be compiled from a qualified writer that researches the topic to offer you reliable information or from regular people like you or I, who is simply putting into writing his or her own experiences after dealing with a financial burden or any other finance-related issue. These blogs are often written to help others find a workaround that they gladly share with their loyal readers.

Do not take the word of a blogger for it, or disqualify him without taking some time to read who the person is behind a financial advice blog first.